`cdno frontmatter`

Set typed frontmatter fields on a note through the index. Every other write surface (cdno log, section upserts) is body-oriented; this is the one that writes a frontmatter field, so a flag like the daily meds: true can be toggled without a hand-edit that would desync .cuaderno/index.db.

The field must be declared in .cuaderno/config.toml under [schemas.<type>.fields.<key>] and marked settable = true — the write is driven entirely by that spec (see the configuration reference).

`cdno frontmatter set <note> <key> <value>`

Set a declared, settable field to a new value.

cdno frontmatter set [OPTIONS] <NOTE> <KEY> <VALUE>

Arguments

Argument	Description
`<NOTE>`	The note to edit: `today`, a `YYYY-MM-DD` date (both resolve to the daily note), or a vault-relative note path (e.g. `projects/foo.md`).
`<KEY>`	The frontmatter field to set. Must be declared `settable = true` under `[schemas.<type>.fields.<key>]`.
`<VALUE>`	The new value, as a string. It is coerced to the field’s declared `type` (`bool`/`int`/`float`/`string`/`date`) and checked against any `values` allowed-set.

Takes only the global options. With --json, emits the { path, message } write result.

Rules

Declared + settable, default-deny. An undeclared key is rejected; a declared field without settable = true (absent or false) is rejected.
Type-checked. A value that doesn’t parse as the declared type — or isn’t one of a string field’s values — is rejected and nothing is written.
Reserved keys are blocked. type, status, and a calendar type’s period key (date/week/month) are engine-owned regardless of config — use the lifecycle commands (cdno project park/activate, cdno question set-status, …) for those, so their auto-logging and index invariants are never bypassed.
No-op on no change. Setting a field to the value it already holds writes nothing and logs nothing.
Optional auto-log. When the field declares log_on_change = true, a real change stamps a key: old → new line into today’s daily note in the same commit.
Strict-exists (v1). The key must already be present in the note’s frontmatter (the daily flags exist via the template default). A missing key errors rather than being appended; ordered-insert is a planned follow-up. Slug resolution for projects/questions is likewise a follow-up — v1 resolves today/dates and explicit note paths.

Examples

cdno frontmatter set today meds true          # toggle today's daily meds flag
cdno frontmatter set today workout true        # if log_on_change, also logs it
cdno frontmatter set 2026-07-09 closed true    # a specific day's daily note
cdno frontmatter set projects/surrogate.md phase review

Configuration reference — declaring [schemas.<type>.fields], including settable and log_on_change.
Frontmatter fields — the built-in per-type frontmatter shapes.

Keyboard shortcuts

Cuaderno

cdno frontmatter